Sterile fruit flies to stop outbreaks

More than a million sterile male fruit flies will be released each week for up to four months in and around Daw Park in Adelaide's south in a bid to stop any further outbreaks of the pest.

Geoff Raven from the Department of Primary Industries says the wild female fruit flies will hopefully pair up with the sterile male insects and be unable to lay more fertile eggs in any fruit.

Mr Raven says this technique should wipe out the pest.

"They'll hopefully be as attractive to the female flies that may be present as possible, the females produce infertile eggs and will diminish the population," he said.

Mr Raven says people living in the area have been told about the release of the male insects.

"All of the residents were advised early on in the piece of what the process involved, so we had the bait spotting for two weeks and then the sterile insects being released for 10 or 12 weeks, so we've had fantastic cooperation from residents around the area," he said.

A 1.5 kilometre quarantine zone was set up following the discovery of maggots in a nectarine in late January.